I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for estimating the detonation performance of materials.
II. Description of Related Art
The detonation performance of energetic or explosive materials constitutes an important factor in many military applications as well as civil applications. The detonation performance includes the energy of detonation, the detonation pressure, and detonation velocity.
In order to determine the detonation performance of newly developed energetic materials, it has previously been necessary to amass enough of the energetic material to form a sample capable of detonation. That sample was then detonated and the various factors for detonation performance measured during the detonation.
The previously known methods for determining the detonation performance of an energetic material, however, suffer from several disadvantages. First, in many cases a newly developed energetic material is only available in small quantities, such as milligrams. As such, there is simply insufficient material to create the detonation. In these cases, it was not possible to accurately estimate the detonation performance of the energetic material until a sample sufficiently large for detonation was collected. However, in some cases the energetic material did not exhibit sufficient detonation performance so that the time and cost expended to create a sample of sufficient mass for detonation was wasted.
A still further disadvantage of the previously known methods for determining the detonation performance of an energetic material is that the actual detonation of the energetic material must necessarily be carried out in a safe test area outside the laboratory. This, in turn, disadvantageously increased the time and cost to test the energetic material due to the large number of personnel required to perform the testing and the necessary safety precautions.